Chapter Four: Kaiser Vs Stars and Lightning
Immediately after the signal was given, Homura kicked off the ground and dashed toward the four forwards at blurring speeds.
Covering the ten-meter gap between himself and the four forwards in an instant, Homura stopped in the middle of the team.
Without even waiting for them to react, Homura began his attack on the four forwards, starting with Caro, who was the team's Full Back.
*Bang!*
A sound akin to metal clashing rang out as Erio appeared before Caro and barely managed to block Homura's blow with his spear.
However, the power behind Homura's punch sent Erio crashing into Caro, causing both of them to be flung backwards.
Taking advantage of Teana and Subaru's dazed state, Homura sent another two strikes towards their chins.
Breaking out of her stupor at the last second, Subaru quickly charged towards Homura and forced him to back away.
Without stopping, Subaru quickly grabbed onto Teana before making a mad dash toward the fallen Erio and Caro.
[Wing Road.]
Snatching up the two children, Subaru summoned a road of blue mana and pushed her roller skates to their limits as she tried to distance herself and the others from Homura as much as possible.
"Hmm...Good choice."
Rubbing his helmet's chin, Homura commented before beginning his chase.
Seeing that Homura was chasing after them, Teana, who was still under Subaru's arm, pointed her gun at him and began shooting bullets of orange mana.
With ease, Homura dodged every one of Teana's bullets without slowing down.
"Tch! Caro! Are you alright!?"
Clicking her tongue at her missed bullets, Teana turned to Caro and called out to the summoner.
"Y-Yes!"
"Boost me! We're going to fight back!"
Immediately after saying so, Teana proceeded to unload everything she had at Homura.
Despite not aiming, Teana managed to force Homura to slow down due to the randomness of the bullets' pathways.
"Now!"
At her signal, Caro began casting an Increase-type Support spell.
"Subaru! Left!"
While Caro was casting, Teana looked at Subaru and ordered.
Receiving her instructions, Subaru immediately turned left and disappeared from behind a building, hidden from Homura's sight.
Leaping off the ground, Homura used the buildings to build up momentum and speed up to the forwards.
Upon reaching the turn, multiple high-powered mana bullets shot towards Homura in a closely packed arrangement.
Being in the middle of the air, Homura had no way to dodge the incoming bullets.
Though faced with a difficult situation, Homura kept his calm and extended his hand to the bullets.
Upon making contact with one of the bullets, Homura twisted his body and redirected it to hit one of its allies.
*Boom!*
An explosion occurred in the air, and Homura was thrown into a nearby building.
"Did we get him?"
Subaru muttered as she looked at the crater formed by Homura's crash.
"No!"
Teana shouted as she quickly dodged a piece of rock that was launched at her.
'He somehow managed to catch one of my bullets without breaking their shell and threw them to my other bullets. Using the ensuing explosion, he propelled himself toward the ground and dodged the remaining bullets.'
Although Subaru and the others couldn't see it, as the team's sharpshooter, Teana managed to comprehend what Homura had done.
"Subaru!"
Hearing her name called, Subaru immediately dashed towards Homura's crash site.
"HAAAAHH!"
With a battle cry, Subaru quickly reached Homura and unleashed a blast of mana from her gauntlet.
*Fwoosh!* *Boom!*
Before Subaru's attack reached him, Homura leapt out from the crash site and kicked off from the side of the building.
Shooting towards Subaru like a meteor, Homura extended his leg into a flying side kick and flew towards the older girl.
*Bang!*
However, right as his foot made contact with Subaru, Homura felt as if he was kicking the air.
'Subaru' disappeared into mana particles and Homura ended up creating another crater in the ground.
'Silhouette, huh.'
"RAAAH!"
A roar sounded from his side as Subaru charged toward Homura at breakneck speeds with her fist pulled back.
Realizing that he wouldn't be able to dodge in time, Homura quickly punched out to match Subaru's strike.
*BOOM!*
Another deafening explosion resounded throughout the entire city, as a cloud of dust rose into the air and cracks appeared on the road beneath the two's feet.
"Ahhhhh..."
Like a bullet, Subaru was sent flying out of the dust cloud and into a nearby building.
The dust cloud was also forcefully dispersed by the wind that Subaru generated when she was thrown out, revealing that Homura who had been forced to take multiple steps back.
Not even a second had passed when a large ball of fire, accompanied by dozens of orange mana bullets came raining down on Homura.
Stomping hard on the ground, Homura forced the road debris to rise and used them as makeshift shields to defend against the bombardment.
"Erio! Now!
As he resisted the volley of spells, Homura heard Teana's voice and felt a sudden surge of mana coming from nearby.
Looking around, Homura found Erio a few meters away from him, with his spear readied and a yellow Belkan triangle glowing under his feet.
"Let's go, Strada!"
With his spear and his body boosted by Caro's Support spells, Erio's current power was comparable to a Rank AA mage.
[Speerangriff!]
Erio's Device announced the spell as mana flames were ejected from the spearhead's back and launched Erio at Homura.
Combined with Caro's Acceleration and Strada's jet thrusters, Erio became a blur as he advanced.
"Alchemic Chain!"
Almost immediately, a pink Midchildan circle appeared beneath Homura and shot out multiple steel chains that bound his lower bound, preventing him from moving.
"Hmph."
Keeping his calm, Homura relaxed slightly and merely waited for Erio to reach him with a smirk on his lips.
*BOOOOM!*
...
Out of his transformation, Homura could be seen standing before the four forwards with crossed arms.
"You guys did great. Despite the horrible start, the four of you still managed to turn the tables and even force me out of my transformation."
Smiling in satisfaction, Homura generously praised Subaru and the others.
Although, they didn't seem to be registering any of the praise.
"Um..."
Caro shyly rose her hand, interrupting Homura's praise.
"What is it, Caro?"
Homura turned to Caro with a jerk of his neck, slightly scaring her due to the sudden neck movement.
"W-What happened to your body..?"
Pointing at Homura's body, Caro asked.
Standing before the four forwards was no longer the tall and mature Homura, but rather, a shorter and more childlike version of him.
"Hm? Ah. This body is my true form. The one that all of you saw before was my Adult Mode, a product of my shape-shifting magic."
Homura calmly explained, as if he were talking about something trivial.
"Then, the early growth spurt?"
"It was a lie. A joke if you would."
Homura revealed with a cheeky smile.
"..."
When faced with the current Homura, Subaru and the others couldn't help but turn speechless upon feeling the difference between Homura's present cheerful demeanour and his previous professional act.
"Besides, transforming into Kamen Rider Kaiser forces my body to grow temporarily. If I had to keep adjusting to my another height every time I transform, my sense of balance would go haywire."
Homura explained in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Regardless! No matter which form I am in, do you all not think I look wonderful!? Hahahaha!"
With a bellowing laugh, Homura asked the four forwards, causing an awkward expression to appear on their faces.
"...Moving on."
Seeing that no one was responding, and Nanoha's eyes were starting to get painful, Homura quickly changed the subject.
"Teana and Caro! Wonderful teamwork! However, out of the four of you, the two of you were the slowest in reacting to my arrival. To be an excellent combat mage, you must be capable of remaining calm during any circumstances and take action immediately. Failure to do so may result in death. Especially Caro! As a Full Back, you should have immediately provided a boost to your teammates or a binding spell to slow me down."
Homura said, causing the faces of the initially ecstatic Center Guard and Full Back to dim.
"Next is Erio. You were the fastest in reacting to me, but you were also the least adaptive of the group. Erio, when you saw me attacking Caro, what you should have done was to bring Caro away from me. Your speed is capable of doing so! However, you decided to use your body as a meatshield, and that ended up causing harm to both of you."
Homura calmly pointed out the red-haired boy's flaws, causing him to look to the ground in shame, before turning to Subaru.
"Subaru. You did well. You had excellent combat prowess and could match against me in terms of pure physical strength. Those qualities are essential for a Front Attacker, but just those abilities are not enough. As a Front Attacker, you should also be capable of using defensive spells and not only at attacking. A great defence is a good offense. If you had used Protection or Tri-Shield during our first clash, you could have maintained your position and the others would be able to assist you in an all-out assault, which would have lessened the amount of time and mana consumed to defeat me."
A gloomy expression covered Subaru's usually cheerful face.
Sensing the gloomy atmosphere that was starting to engulf the entire four forwards, Homura clapped his hands to attract their attention.
"Overall, you are all highly skilled but lack experience in real combat. However, you guys do not have to worry about it, as the other instructors and I will make sure to turn you all into excellent mages comparable to us."
Finishing his speech, Homura looked at the four forwards and asked with a wide grin.
"Are you ready for that!?"
"Yes!"
With their passion ignited, the four forwards shouted with enthusiasm.
"Good!"
Homura nodded with a content smile before continuing.
"Now then, let's continue with the mock battle. Like before, the same rules will apply."
Homura's declaration caused the eyes of the four forwards to widen in shock.
"To become an excellent mage requires hard work, and there are still a few hours until night falls. So let's get going."
Summoning a rainbow-coloured energy chain, Homura captured the four forwards and began dragging them to the training grounds.
"Hehehe..."
Nanoha couldn't help but chuckle upon witnessing the happy expression on Homura's face.
...
ROBOT! RIDER SYSTEM! MACHINE EVOLUTION!
Within an unknown location, the familiar voice of the Evol-Driver echoed throughout.
Wearing the Evol-Driver, was a young boy that seemed to be the same age as Homura.
Except for brown hair and blood-red eyes, the boy seemed almost identical to Homura.
Cranking the lever of the Evol-Driver around his waist, multiple gears began to surround the boy's body, unlike the structure that was constructed by Homura's Evol-Driver.
ARE YOU READY?
With a smirk, the boy calmly answered.
"Henshin."
At his behest, the gears entered the boy's body and engulfed him in a black electricity-filled aura.
ROBOT! ROBOT! EVOL ROBOT! FUHAHAHAHAHA!
With a loud bang, the aura covering the boy's body was blown away, and an armour-clad figure was revealed.
With a black colour scheme, robot arm eyepieces and a large robot right arm, the armour-clad figure's mechanical theme seemed to contrast with Homura's animalistic theme.
*Clapclapclapclap!*
From the mechanical Kamen Rider's back, excited applause could be heard.
"Excellent! Excellent! The output of your Rider Form is comparable to your brother's own! As expected of my greatest masterpiece after him!"
With a flourish of his lab coat, the Doctor praised the boy with a maniacal smile.
At the Doctor's antics, the black Kamen Rider merely observed him with disinterest.
"Deus Ex Machina! Tell me, Hagane-kun! Can you become the god from the machine and surpass your brother?"
Turning to the Kamen Rider, the Doctor asked with a smile.
"I don't care about that. As long as I can fight him, I could care less about anything else."
A mature version of the boy's voice spoke from within the Kamen Rider's helmet.
"Indeed! You are a weapon that was created specifically to fight Kamen Rider Kaiser! There is nothing else you should be worrying about!"
The boy's response elicited a wider grin from the Doctor.
"Kamen Rider Machina! From now on, that will be your name when you are in this form! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The Doctor's maniacal laugh filled the entire room, slowly spreading to the hallways of his lab.